This application claims the priority of German patent 198 39 350.4, filed Aug. 28, 1998, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein.
The invention relates to a vehicle locking system of the type having a locking unit which can be actuated by an authentication element carried by a vehicle operator, and which is reversible between a locked and an unlocked position.
Vehicle locking systems having a locking unit which can be actuated reversibly between an unlocked and a locked state by means of an authentication element are commonly used, for example, in automobiles. In such systems, a movable vehicle part which can be opened and closed to provide or deny access to an adjoining vehicle interior, may be in particular a trunk lid by which access can be gained to a trunk of the vehicle. As known, the trunk lid is provided with a locking unit of the vehicle locking system, which can be reversed between an unlocked and a locked state by a portable authentication element that can be carried by the user. Thus, access to the vehicle, particularly the trunk, is permitted only to authorized vehicle users have an authentication element which identifies them as being authorized.
According to the design of the vehicle locking system, mechanical or electronic keys are conventionally used as authentication elements; see, for example, German Patent Document DE 195 31 219 C1. Recently, chip cards, transponders and the like have increasingly been used which are part of a so-called xe2x80x9cKeyless Go Systemxe2x80x9d; see, for example, German Patent Document DE 44 09 167 C1. The Keyless Go Systems and the systems with electronic keys have the advantage that they require no action by the vehicle user to identify himself as being authorized to gain access to and/or drive the vehicle; that is, to be able to effectively control the locking system and/or an electronic drive-away blocking system.
In contrast to systems with electronic keys, the Keyless Go Systems have the additional advantage that, for proving the access and/or driving authorization, they require only that the vehicle user carry with him an authentication element which is valid for the vehicle, without having to perform any manipulation of the authentication element. In addition to being used for the locking unit which is of interest here (such as the trunk lid), such locking systems include additional locking units, such as vehicle doors, etc. On the other hand, the vehicle part which is considered here and which opens or blocks access to an adjoining vehicle interior, may be a vehicle door itself. Other vehicle parts having such a function can also be used, such as the engine hood, a sliding roof, a removable roof, etc.
The problem that the vehicle user leaves his authentication element in the lockable vehicle interior and then locks the vehicle can occur in all above-mentioned cases. The authentication element may, for example, remain in the locked trunk, and the vehicle user closes the trunk lid from the outside. This problem is particularly serious if the vehicle part can be switched into its locked state while it is in the open position, and the locked condition maintained when the vehicle part is closed (which typically occurs in the case of the trunk lid). In this case, the other access possibilities to the vehicle, such as the door, will then also be locked. Because the trunk is not accessible from the remaining vehicle interior in many cases, the authorized vehicle user must then first procure another valid authentication element in order to again have access to the authentication element left in the car if he does not want to break open the locking unit.
In Keyless Go Systems, it is known to provide antennas at selected points on the vehicle, whose range, (also called capture range) defines the action range of an associated wireless authentication communication channel, via which access and/or driving authorization testing communication operations take place for a vehicle locking system or an electronic drive-away blocking system. Such a communication operation will successfully take place only if an authentication element valid for the vehicle is situated in the action range of the communication channel. A special antenna arrangement of this type is described in German Patent Document DE 195 42 441 C2. It is known from the above, among other things, that at least a pair of individual antennas can be arranged under a rear window shelf, in the trunk or in its proximity in order to emit signals to an authentication element in the trunk or in its direct proximity; that is, the capture range will then be limited to the space in or around the trunk.
A locking system of the above-mentioned type is described in German Published Patent Application DE 41 23 654 A1. In this locking system, the emission of a locking command, triggers a question-and-answer dialogue between a vehicle antenna unit and a portable transponder, which is used as the authentication element, and it is determined whether the transponder is situated in the receiving range of the one or several antennas inside the concerned vehicle interior or outside the vehicle. The requested, locking will not be carried out until it is recognized that the transponder is situated outside the vehicle (not inside it). This document also indicates that a locking system is known in which a corresponding question-and-answer dialogue for the transponder detection is not triggered immediately with the transmission of a locking command but is delayed by a defined waiting period and, in the case of a detection, a warning signal is generated.
One object of the invention is to provide a vehicle locking system of the type described above, which offers protection against an accidental locking-in of an authentication element in a lockable vehicle interior area.
This and other objects and advantages are achieved by the vehicle locking system according to the invention, which includes authentication element detection devices that, on the one hand, determine whether an authentication element (particularly an element for authorizing access to and/or the driving of the concerned vehicle) is situated in the vehicle interior area which can be closed off by the movable vehicle part, and, on the other hand, initiate special advantageous actions for such a case.
Thus, in one embodiment of the invention, in the event of a detection, the authentication element detection devices cause not only an unlocking of the locking unit of the respective vehicle part, but also an automatic opening of the vehicle part. This represents an indicating signal, which can immediately be recognized by the vehicle user, and indicates that an authentication element is still situated in the concerned vehicle interior area. The vehicle user can then immediately pick up his authentication element which had been left in the vehicle interior area.
Another embodiment of the invention contains the special measure that the authentication element detection devices monitor the vehicle interior area for the presence of an authentication element, independently of the existence of a locking command, also in the unlocked condition of the locking system. In the event of a detection, such devices generate a corresponding indicating signal, which may be, for example, an acoustic or a visual signal. In this manner, the driver can be warned in time before closing the vehicle component, not to lock in his authentication element.
These measures according to the invention that, thus prevent the occurrence of a situation in which the vehicle user leaves the authentication element behind, and after closing the concerned vehicle part, leaves the vehicle in the incorrect belief (in the case of an otherwise locked locking system condition), that the vehicle is completely locked.
The authentication element detection devices can be implemented in any conventional manner, particularly by using a wireless detection communication channel, via which a vehicle-mounted communication component equipped, for example, with appropriately designed and arranged antennas can communicate with a corresponding communication component of the authentication element if the latter is in the action range (that is, in the capture range) of this communication channel.
Still another embodiment of the locking system according to the invention has the special advantage that the monitoring function of the authentication element detection devices concerning whether an authentication element is present in the vehicle interior area can be temporarily deactivated by the user. This feature permits the intentional deposit and locking-in of an authentication element there if desired, without triggering any actions, such as generating an indicating signal or unlocking of a locking unit. As a result, the driver can deposit a first authentication element in this vehicle interior area (for example, the trunk) and continue to normally trigger the vehicle locking system by means of a second authentication element.
In yet another embodiment of the invention, the authentication element detection devices contain a wireless detection communication channel which is advantageously designed with an action range that just covers the vehicle interior, and which can be closed off by the movable vehicle part so that corresponding detection communication operations between a vehicle-borne communication component and the authentication element will take place successfully only if the authentication element is situated in the lockable vehicle interior area. This in turn permits a clear detection of such an authentication element in this area.
According to another feature of the invention, the wireless detection communication channel on the authentication element uses communication components which are otherwise present for authentication communication to check access authorization, as provided for the triggering of the locking unit. This further development of the invention can therefore be used beneficially for Keyless Go Systems and systems with electronic keys because the existing wireless authentication communication channel can be utilized as well to detect the presence of an authentication element in the trunk or another lockable vehicle interior area.